Abstracts, XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy) , 9-15

XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy), 9-15 September 2013
Medaeronet website
THIBAUDON M., OLIVER G., SINDT C.
EAS (European Aerobiology Society); Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique (RNSA), France.
Since 2001, RNSA (French Network of Aerobiology) has been in charge to increase the dissemination
of the information about allergy to pollen for the Mediterranean area. So, with the help of the different
aerobiology networks of this area, we decided to make a real network of information.
The information provided to RNSA every week is about the quantity of the main allergenic pollens
present in most of the countries involved in Medaeronet. Each kind of pollens has different
allergy potency (Table 1). This allergy potency is determined according to the nature of the proteins
of the pollen.
Table 1. Allergy potency and period of pollination of the main pollens of Mediterranean area.
Allergy potency
Period of pollination
Cypress Very high December to March
Plane tree Moderate April
Oak High April to June
Chestnut Weak April to June
Olive Moderate May to June
Ash High January to April
Grasses Very high April to August
Pellitory High May to August
Mugwort High August to October
In function of the allergy potency and the quantities of pollens, the allergy risk can be established
every week for each pollen and each country. To inform about this allergy risk, there are four levels:
null, low, moderate or high.
The countries which send us every week their pollen bulletin are:
- Croatia (Laboratorij za aerobiologiju – Barbara Stjepanovic),
- France (Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique – Michel Thibaudon),
- Italy (Associazione Italiana di Aerobiologia – Roberto Albertini),
- Serbia (Laboratorija za palinologiju – Branko Sikoparija),
- Spain (Red Espanola de Aerobiologia – Carmen Galan).
The content of the website (www.medaeronet.net) is based on:
- map for each species. The level of the allergy risk is indicated with colors (null in white, low in green,
moderate in orange and high in red);
- bulletin with the comments of each country.
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